In a conventional screw machine, a male rotor and a female rotor, disposed in respective parallel overlapping bores defined within a rotor housing, coact to trap and compress volumes of gas. While two rotors are the most common design, three, or more, rotors may coact in pairs. The male and female rotors differ in their lobe profiles and in the number of lobes and flutes. For example, the female rotor may have six lobes separated by six flutes, the while conjugate male rotor may have five lobes separated by five flutes. Accordingly, each possible combination of lobe and flute coaction between the rotors occurs on a cyclic basis. The coaction between the conjugate pairs of rotors is a combination of sliding and rolling contact which can produce different rates of wear. In addition to coacting in pairs, the rotors coact as well with the housing. Because all combinations of rotor contact takes place between conjugate pairs, the sealing/leakage between the various combinations may be different due to manufacturing tolerances and wear patterns. This can be the case even though manufacturing tolerances are held very tight with the attendant manufacturing costs and adequate lubrication or other liquid injection is provided for sealing.
The profile design of conjugate pairs of screw rotors must be provided with a clearance in most sections. The need to provide a clearance is the result of a number of factors including: thermal growth of the rotors as a result of gas being heated in the compression process; deflection of the rotors due to pressure loading resulting from the compression process; tolerances in the support bearing structure and machining tolerances on the rotors which may sometimes tend to locate the rotors too close to one another which can lead to interference; and machining tolerances on the rotor profiles themselves which can also lead to interference. Superimposed upon these factors is the existence of pressure and thermal gradients as the pressure and temperature increase in going from suction to discharge.
The pressure gradient is normally in one direction during operation such that fluid pressure tends to force the rotors towards the suction side. The rotors are conventionally mounted in bearings at each end so as to provide both radial and axial restraint. The end clearance of the rotors at the discharge side is critical to sealing and the fluid pressure tends to force open the clearance.
There are certain sections of the rotor, such as the contact band, where zero clearance is maintained between the rotors. The segment of the rotor defining the contact band is the region where the required torque is transmitted between the rotors. The load between the rotors is different for a male rotor drive and for a female rotor drive. In a male drive the loading between the rotors may be equivalent to about 10% of the total compressor torque, whereas in the case of female rotor drive the loading between the rotors may be equivalent to about 90% of the total compressor torque. These segments are conventionally positioned near the pitch circles of the rotors which is the location of equal rotational speed on the rotors resulting in rolling contact and thereby in reduced or no sliding contact and thus less wear.
A substantial amount of end-running clearance must be maintained at the discharge end of screw compressors in order to prevent failure from rotor seizure. Seizure may be caused by the thermal expansion of the rotor or by the intermittent contacts between the rotors and the end casing due to pressure pulsations in the compression process.